PROPOSED CHANGES TO THE CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM OF
LIVING COCCOLITHOPHORIDS. 11.
Annalies Kleijne, Earth Sciences, Amsterdam Free University, NL
Ric W. Jordan, Dept. of Microbiology, University of Surrey, Guildford, UK.
(Present address: British Antarctic Survey, Cambridge, UK).
Since the Florence INA meeting of 1989 and the publication of the workshop recommendations(Jordan & Young, 1990), two additional problems have been noted. This note deals with them.

NEW COMBINATIONS
Rhabdosphaera clavigera var. stylifera comb.nov.
Basionym: R. stylifera Lohmann, 1902, p. 143, pl.5, fig.65.
Syracolithus ponticuliferus comb. nov.
Basionym: Corisphaera ponticulifera Kamptner, 1941, p.90, pl.11, figs. 117-118.

(1)
(2)

TAXONOMIC NOTES
1) Rhabdosphaera clavigera: Murray & Blackman (1898) studied coccolithophores from net
haul samples and reported living rhabdospheres for the first time, from which they described
the genus and species Rhabdosphaera clavigera. Lohmann (1902) described a second species,
R. stylifera, from the Mediterranean, differing from R. clavigera in its appendix shape. The
former possesses a thin stem composed of fine elements, whereas the latter has a thicker,coarser stem. In recent taxonomic works (Okada & Mclntyre, 1977; Hallegraeff, 1984) the twospecies have been regarded as conspecific, with R. clavigera having priority. Intermediate forms
have been seen (Borsetti & Cati, 1972; Hallegraeff, 1984; Norris,1984) but we believe that thestem types are distinct enough to be separated as varieties so that future distribution studies
may provide useful information on their individual biogeographies.

Corisphaera ponticulifera. Kamptner (1941) described Corisphaera ponticulifera as acoccosphere consisting of zygoliths (i.e holococcoliths consisting of a tube, with the distal end
spanned by a bridge). Although no stomatal coccoliths were observed, he placed it in thedimorphic genus Corisphaera. Deflandre (1952) created the genus Homozygosphaera, for zygolithbearing monomorphic species, and Kamptner (1954) transferred C. ponticulifera to this genus.
Modem illustrations (Okada & Mclntyre, 1977, pl. 12, figs. 8-9) show that the coccoliths of thisspecies are laminated discs, perforated by two large holes, with a pointed protrusion on thedistal surface. These are laminoliths rather than zygoliths, so the species is transferred here
to the genus Syracolithus.

2)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We would like to thank Jean Pyle for typing the original manuscript and Jeremy Young for _his
editorial comments.
REFERENCES
Borsetti A.M. & Cati F. 1972: I1 nannoplankton calcareo vivente nel Tirreno centromeridionale. Giorn. Geol., Ser. 2a, 38, 395-452.
Deflandre G. 1952: Classe des Coccolithophorides (Coccolithophoridae Lohmann, 1902) In, Grasse P.-P. (ed.) "Traite de Zoologie",Masson et Cie., 1, 439-470.
Hallegraeff G.M. 1984: Coccolithophorids (calcareous nanoplankton) from Australian waters. Bot. Mar., 27, 229-247
Jordan R.W. & Young, J.R. 1990: Proposed changes to the classification system of living coccolithophorids. lnt Nannoplankton Ass
Newsl, 12/1, 15-18.
Kamptner E. 1941) Die Coccolithineen der Sudwestkuste von Istrien. Naturh. Mus. Wien, Ann. Anz., 51, 54-149.
Kamptner E. 1954: Untersuchungen iiber den Feinbau der Coccolithen. Arch. Protistenk., 100, 1-90.
Kleijne A. (in prep): Holococcolithophorids from the Indian Ocean, Red Sea, Mediterranean Sea and North Atlantic Ocean. Submittedto Mar. Micropaleont.
Lohmann H. 1902: Die Coccolithophoridae, eine Monographic der Coccolithen bildenden flagellaten, zugleich en Betrag zur Kenntnis
des Mittelmeerauftriebs. Arch. Protistenk., 1, 89-165
Murray G. & Blackman V.H. 1898: On the nature of Coccospheres and rhabdospheres. Phil. Trans. R. Soc., B/190, 427-441
Norris R.E. 1984: Indian Ocean nanoplankton. I. Rhabdosphaeraceae (Prymnesiophyceae) with a review of extant taxa. J. Phycol.,20, 27-41.
Okada H. & Mclntyre A. 1977: Modern coccolithophores of the Pacific and North Atlantic Oceans. Micropaleontology, 23, 1-55.

INA Newsletter 12/2 - 1990

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